Tag Archives: health

by | Thursday, July 2, 2015 · 10:20 am

It’s Summer – Time for Sunscreen, Doll

Doll2

While everyone is aware that too much exposure to the sun can be dangerous to skin and health, it isn’t always easy to get kids to use sunscreen. They have to stop playing, get all greasy, and generally put up a fuss. After all, the sunburn only happens later, after leaving the beach, so why worry about it now?

Nivea and agency FCB Brazil teamed to create an innovative campaign to teach kids about the importance of using sunscreen to protect against harmful UV rays at the beach. To do this, they created Nivea Dolls, using a UV-sensitive material that turns red unless a sunblock is used. The boy and girl dolls were given to families on the beach.

When the kids put sunscreen on the dolls, their skin stayed clear; no sunscreen turned the material into a red-faced, sunburned doll. Not only did the toy show kids immediately how sunscreen helps protect their skin, it also distracted kids so that parents could apply sunscreen on them. No red faces at this beach!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show the video: https://youtu.be/StvAe98BfwY
  2. Discuss other things that can adversely impact children’s health such as junk food, too much TV, etc.
  3. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop an innovative campaign to help educate children about health and safety.
  4. Debrief the exercise.

Source: Ad Age Daily, C/Net, other news sources

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by | Sunday, August 10, 2014 · 12:13 am

Easy Rider: Bike-Sharing Programs

bike

It’s getting easier to rent bikes in many cities across the nation, thanks to new bike-sharing programs in cities ranging from Minneapolis, to Boston, to Denver, to Chattanooga. It’s a simple system – bikes are rented from convenient kiosks where the rider pays using a credit or debit card and rents a bike for an hour or more. When done riding, simply drop the bike off at another kiosk. Most systems offer annual memberships in addition to a daily use pass.

Bike-sharing programs are spreading like wildfire across the U.S.; there are now more than 21,000 shared bikes in 36 metro areas, a big increase from only six bike-sharing programs only four years ago. And by the end of 2015, the number of bicycles in the sharing programs is expected to top 38,000.

Despite the rise in numbers and availability, according to the Wall Street Journal, more than half of the programs have had difficulties such as delayed launches, technical glitches, funding, supplier issues, and generating revenue to keep going.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: how many have ever used a bike-share program? What were their experiences?
  2. Discuss the barriers and challenges to establishing a city bike-sharing program.
  3. Divide students into teams and have each team select a bike-sharing program from different cities (e.g., New York, Chicago, Paris, Minneapolis, Denver, etc.)
  4. Have each team identify a target market. Then, have teams develop a list of benefits and value for the programs.
  5. Next, have each team develop a promotional campaign to increase riders and memberships. Make sure to integrate social media marketing into the campaigns.

Source:   Wall Street Journal, Forbes

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by | Tuesday, June 10, 2014 · 3:33 am

The Drinkable Book

Book

Not all innovative products revolve around incorporating technology into their usage, and not all products need a battery. Many products are simplistic in nature and use technology to focus on solving common problems that affect peoples around the globe. One such product is “The Drinkable Book” – a paper-based product (book) that addresses the need for safe water. The book is printed in non-toxic ink on paper that has been coated with silver particles which kill water-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and E. coli.

The Drinkable Book is 20 pages and each page/filter lasts roughly 30 days – thus giving the user a tool for clean water for the next year. The paper filters 99.99% of bacteria, making the filtered water comparable to tap water in the U.S. The paper, similar to a coffee filter, is easy and inexpensive to produce. The charitable organization which distributes the book is Water for Life, which sends the books with teams traveling to Africa, China, and India.

Sometimes, it is the simple product that makes the biggest impact in lives.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. View the video: http://youtu.be/qYTif9F188E.
  2. Have students review the Web site for Water is Life organization: http://www.waterislife.com/.
  3. In order to be successful, companies must be able to physically get a product into the hands of the customers. Discuss how a distribution channel works.
  4. For this product, what distribution channels are used now?
  5. How can the channel be expanded? What approach could be used?
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team draw a flow chart for the distribution of the product.
  7. Debrief the exercise.

Source: Ad Age Daily

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